EOH to approach police after probe finds evidence of theft, bribery

Jan Cronje

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Stephen van Coller, the CEO of ICT group EOH [JSE:EOH], said on Tuesday that an internal probe had revealed that "about eight" people had been involved in a "suspicious transaction" totalling R1.2bn between 2014 and 2017.

Coller was giving an update on the findings on the first part of a forensic probe by law firm ENSafrica into possible fraudulent transactions involving the group.

The past five months had been "fairly devastating", he said, saying he would "never wish it on my worst enemies".

The probe flagged evidence of bribery, corruption, theft and overpaying enterprise development suppliers, he said, adding the ICT group would be lodging criminal complaints with police. It would also consider civil claims against those implicated.

EOH shares were trading at R19.32 a share at 09:30 on the JSE , down 7.38% on the day.

Coller said in a webcast that most of the suspicious transactions involved EOH Mthombo, a subsidiary of EOH.

Evidence pointed to about eight people being involved in wrongdoing. He did not name names. He said some 84% of the R1.2bn in suspicious transactions involved transactions to about 20 suppliers.

In mid-February, when the investigation kicked off in earnest, a number of EOH staff implicated in wrongdoing had resigned or been suspended from the ICT group.

Coller said on Tuesday the next phase of the investigation will include probing the R1.2bn in suspicious transactions in more detail. He said this amount may also include some legitimate work.

He thanked whistleblowers who have come forward with allegations of wrongdoing at the company.